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Actively embrace change

What is Change Management? This question was the main topic at Pforzheim University’s “Kaminabend” opened by Catherine Gerharz.
The Association of German industrial engineers presented two interesting speakers. Christian Metzger, plant manager of Michelin tires in Karlsruhe and the Managing Director of Rowi Precision Technology GmbH, Nguyen Trong Luat.

"Change Management is just changing the company " Christian Metzger outlining the concept. "You have to know your expected target and you have work methodically and relentlessly until reaching it" emphasized the plant manager. This means that employees and concerned peaople should not be ignored, because "Everybody must work together". Alone we can only change little things, so it is important to start the changes with the whole team.

In addition to the "Polarstern", the ultimate goal, you must also keep many small "milestones" in mind. Metzger also stressed how important it was, in processes of change "to play helicopter, which means to treat yourself to rest and to ponder from above, to make sure you're still on the right track." You should have no fear of potential errors.

The Campus Manager at Michelin plants in Karlsruhe, Anne Schalk, presented the Penguin principle developed by the American Harvard professor John Kotter. She told the story of the penguin Fred, who encounters different resistances, trying to convince the other penguins to change after an ominous discovery.

Nguyen Trong Luat is also familiar with changes; he left Vietnam at the age of 14 alone with his sister.

When he arrived in Germany, he knew from the beginning, that he wanted to study. To achieve this goal, he worked hard. "Without change management I would not be sitting here today," he said. In 2007, the native-born Vietnamese took over the troubled company ROWI. "When I got there, it was initially a shock to me and the employees" he joked. It is important to take care of each and every employee, " Luat said. "This requires sensitivity that you can't learn in lectures". Asked by the students after his recipe, he replied: "I must first change myself before I can try to change my fellow men."